Import/Export Fees
The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced the rates it will charge importers and exporters, meat and poultry establishments, and egg products plants in 2026 for providing voluntary, overtime, and holiday inspection and identification, certification, laboratory services, and export application fees.
- basetime: $73.04
- overtime: $89.68
- holiday: $106.32
- laboratory services: $92.80
- electronic export application: $4.83
FSIS notes that all of these rates except the lab services rate are the same as for FY 2025 because the agency has not reevaluated most of its formulas for calculating rate changes since 2009 and they may therefore no longer accurately reflect current cost structures.
Export Financing
The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service announced Feb. 3 the expansion of financing options under the Export Credit Guarantee Program (GSM-102). FAS states that under this new policy it will offer an 18-month repayment option that allows buyers pay the full loan amount at the end of the term instead of in installments. This new option will initially be available in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia – all regions with strong potential for U.S. export growth – and is expected to make U.S. financing more competitive and increase the use of GSM-102.
Kiwifruit
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is accepting comments through April 7 on a proposed rule that would amend the marketing order regulating the handling of kiwifruit grown in California to facilitate the handling of large sizes of kiwifruit and relax the minimum size requirement for virtually all kiwifruit varieties. This rule would also make a corresponding change to the size requirements under the kiwifruit import regulation.
Poultry
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has imposed restrictions on imports of avian commodities from the following areas due to concerns about highly-pathogenic avian influenza.
- Chiba prefecture in Japan (effective Jan. 27)
- zones PCZ-319 and -320 in Quebec, Canada (effective Jan. 15)
These restrictions include the following.
- Importation of poultry, commercial birds, ratites, avian hatching eggs, unprocessed avian products and byproducts, and certain fresh poultry products is prohibited.
- Importation as cargo of processed avian products and byproducts must be accompanied by an APHIS import permit and/or government certification confirming that the goods were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements.
- Importation as cargo of fresh, unprocessed shell/table eggs and egg products, void of the shell (e.g., liquid eggs and dried egg whites) is prohibited unless they are consigned from the port of arrival directly to an APHIS-approved breaking and pasteurization facility. An import permit and/or certificate is not required in such cases.
Separately, APHIS has removed restrictions on imports of poultry and related products originating from the following areas as of the dates indicated.
- Japan: Hokkaido, Okayama, and Kyoto prefectures (effective Jan. 28), Miyazaki prefecture (effective Jan. 31), and Ibaraki and Saitama prefectures (effective Feb. 3)
- Canada: zones PCZ-304 and -314 in Quebec (effective Jan. 29)
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